Benchmark Litigation: Greg Lawrence Recognized as a Top Litigator in Maryland

The Washington Post: BEGA—DC’s Ethic’s Board’s Jurisdiction Over Independent Agencies Called Into Question

Article by Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post

The District’s highest local court said Mayor Vincent C. Gray may proceed in trying to remove the city’s top administrative law judge from office, overruling a lower court’s decision that halted his efforts to fire the controversial but tenured agency head. The D.C. Court of Appeals also said Friday that the city’s ethics board should have the opportunity to rule on Mary Oates Walker’s request to dismiss a 19-count case against her, suggesting the matter is not yet ripe for litigation in the courts.

A Superior Court judge has barred the District’s ethics board from moving forward with charges­ against the city’s chief administrative law judge and a deputy, ruling that the board has no jurisdiction to take action against them.

A Superior Court judge has barred the District’s ethics board from moving forward with charges­ against the city’s chief administrative law judge and a deputy, ruling that the board has no jurisdiction to take action against them.

A Washington federal judge found (PDF) yesterday that the Metropolitan Police Department’s policy on when officers can speak with the press is constitutional, but ruled that the department’s disciplinary action against an officer who did speak with a reporter in 2009 violated the First Amendment.

Maryland Law Firm Leverages CaseMap® to Help Firm Win $80 Million Arbitration Award for Client.

Article by LexisNexis, December 14, 2012,

Conti Fenn & Lawrence is a law firm created by three experienced litigators who had previously practiced at large law firms: Anthony Conti, who established The Law Firm Conti in 2002 after spending several years at DLA Piper; Paul Fenn, who joined Conti as a partner in 2004 after several years at DLA Piper as well; and Gregory Lawrence, who joined as a partner in 2005 after spending six years as senior counsel in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Enforcement and two years as a litigator at Saul Ewing LLP.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled today (PDF) that union representatives, along with union leaders, can be protected in bringing First Amendment claims against alleged whistleblower retaliation.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Anita Josey-Herring ruled this week that a protection offered under the federal Whistleblower Protection Act for certain disclosures made on behalf of another person could be extended to the city’s version of the statute.

The Daily Record: Lawyer Touts Nonpayment Defense as Consumer Win

Article by By Caryn Tamber, The Daily Record

The lawyer for a Federal Hill couple sued for nonpayment by their contractor is touting a Baltimore judge’s favorable ruling as a victory for consumers on what constitutes “substantial compliance” with contractor-licensing requirements.

The Washington Post: D.C. wants more time to answer FOIA requests

Article by By Ann E. Marimow, The Washington Post

The District’s top lawyer is seeking more time to respond to public requests for government information, saying the city is inundated with complex inquiries and has less money and manpower than in the past to comply with D.C.‘s open records law.

A judge in Baltimore has thrown out the shareholder derivative claims in a $79 million-plus lawsuit against several directors and officers of Telos Corp., an information technology contractor for the military.

USA Today: SEC makes inroads against financial spam

Article by By Matt Krantz, USA Today

Showing it is making good on a promise six months ago to crack down on spam intended to take advantage of unsuspecting investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday suspended trading in three stocks it said were “susceptible” to e-mail promotion schemes.

Baltimore Business Journal: Indicted CFO sues U.S. Food

Article by By Rachel Sams, Baltimore Business Journal

Former U.S. Foodservice Chief Financial Officer Michael J. Resnick, who faces criminal charges related to U.S. Food’s 2003 accounting scandal, is suing his former employer for bonuses, vacation pay and other benefits he says are owed him.

The Daily Record: Suit: Baltimore backed out of offer after medical exam

Article by By Daniel Ostrovsky, The Daily Record

An Abingdon man is suing the city of Baltimore for $1 million, claiming he accepted a job offer with the city’s Violence Against Women Act program only to have the offer withdrawn when he disclosed that he suffered from diabetes, an irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure.Donald B. Pfouts, 55, alleges his conditions were under control and that he gave up a better-paying job to serve as the program coordinator in January 2003.“It’s surprising and alarming in today’s world that people are being discriminated against based on their disability,” commented attorney Gregory T. Lawrence of Conti Fenn & Lawrence.

The Baltimore Sun: Officials wait for ruling on charter school funds

Article by By Sumathi Reddy, The Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge will likely rule this week on whether the city school system will have to funnel thousands of additional dollars to charter schools for each student who chooses to enroll in the publicly funded but independent schools.

The Baltimore Sun: Officials wait for ruling on charter school funds

Article by Sumathi Reddy, The Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge will likely rule this week on whether the city school system will have to funnel thousands of additional dollars to charter schools for each student who chooses to enroll in the publicly funded but independent schools.

Article by By Robert J. Terry, Rachel Sams and Heather Harlan, Baltimore Business Journal

A Columbia company is getting set to test a new line of products being used to protect soldiers’ lives in Iraq—tethered blimps.

Known as Aerostat systems and designed and built by TCom L.P., a former Westinghouse subsidiary, the blimps house sophisticated radar, video and communications technology to perform reconnaissance. The tether contains fiber-optic cable and enables ground forces to send signals via radio frequencies.

Consumer law firm Kimmel & Silverman opened a Maryland office a year ago to much fanfare. And there’s no question that the self-styled “lemon law firm” has been busy since it set up shop in Owings Mills.

Nine D.C. police officers have filed a class-action lawsuit against the police department, alleging their superiors interfered in their efforts to work off-duty for a shopping mall last year.

The action is the latest development in a legal battle between the police union and the city in connection with off-duty security provided at Gallery Place in downtown Washington.

The department is attempting to fire an officer on internal charges of illegally setting up off-duty employment for his colleagues at Gallery Place. Police officials are also seeking to suspend three other officers on internal charges they worked off-duty at Gallery Place without permission.

The Baltimore Sun: Ground rent gives new owner headache

SOME FIRST-TIME homebuyers wind up with unexpected problems with faulty boilers, leaky roofs or noisy neighbors.

Holly Edelstein is facing a far different - and more serious - difficulty. Seven months after buying a rowhouse just east of Patterson Park, she is being threatened with the loss of her property.

The 31-year-old is a defendant in a lawsuit over the failure of the previous owner of her property, the Patterson Park Community Development Corp., to pay the ground rent - that peculiar institution that is essentially a long-term lease for a fairly nominal sum on a residential property, primarily in the city and in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties.

The Daily Record: Baltimore judge scales down food-poisoning verdict

Article by By Lawrence Hurley, The Daily Record

A Baltimore jury appeared to agree yesterday with Legal Sea Foods Inc.‘s slogan, “If it isn’t fresh, it isn’t Legal,” when it awarded $50,000 in damages to a New Jersey man who contracted food poisoning after eating at the company’s Inner Harbor restaurant.

Michael Stanton’s joy was short-lived, however, as he found out hours later that a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge had remitted the sum to just over $19,000.

The Baltimore Sun: AOL Time Warner probe tests nerves

Article by By Edmund Sanders and Michael Cieply, The Baltimore Sun

In 1997, a young law student named Gregory Todd Lawrence concluded in a 35,000-word analysis that faulty legwork by a state court had plunged a Maryland insurance case into the “dreaded Serbonian bog.”

The mother of a teen-ager who was fatally shot months before he was to testify at a high-profile attempted-murder trial is contending that Baltimore police and prosecutors are liable for her son’s death because they did not inform her he was to be a key witness.

Trena Willett, mother of homicide victim Juan Wilson, sent an intent-to-sue letter through her lawyer to the state treasurer’s office this month, stating that she would have protected her son if she had known about his involvement in the Perry Spain case. She will seek $10 million in a wrongful death lawsuit, according to the letter.

The Baltimore Sun: Dollars pause in pursuit of new lawyers

Article by By Jennifer Dorroh, The Baltimore Sun

Anthony Conti was 25, fresh from law school, when Piper Marbury Rudnick and Wolfe offered him his first job two years ago. But before he started work, the firm sent him two letters - bumping his starting salary $10,000, to $95,000.